A lady without a hand
These ladies are to go on either side of the transom. I thought they were meant as mirror images of each other, except that one of the two had stuck her hand outboard just as the ship was being boarded. Something is certainly missing from that little arm. That’s already the second white metal ornament to arrive in poor condition, which is rather disappointing.
Piet checked: the figures aren’t mirror images but two different figures. If you fit them properly, the upper moulding rests exactly on their hands. My moulding ran a little further, onto the figure’s shoulder. That’s possible, but then the missing hand stands out all the more. In his picture the hand was missing on the right too, so perhaps it isn’t a defect. I adjusted the line to match his photo. On the internet you see both versions: the examples on Jotika’s website have my original line, the box shows Piet’s. Which is nicer anyway, actually. I remained in doubt about the arm: in Piet’s photo there’s definitely a bend in the arm, on mine it’s a straight stump.
Piet’s solution: build the bend up with solder. He once made an anchor that way when a piece was missing, simply build it up with solder and shape it with a small file, looks harder than it is. Ordering a new figure is also an option. I have both a soldering iron and solder, so that should be doable.
State of play
To my alarm I see in the photo that the paint on the large decoration doesn’t cover completely. There was nothing to be seen of that with the naked eye. It’s an antique gold, so possibly the cause lies elsewhere. The small ornament on the left I’ve aged somewhat, because I didn’t like too much bling. The colours come across poorly in the photo, especially the gold, which is much nicer in real life.
Pingu57 had an explanation: apply a layer of yellow paint under the gold, then the gold colour becomes fuller and it doesn’t show that it isn’t covering properly. You only see that from a certain viewing angle. I had read that before, but didn’t think of it at the crucial moment.
